I read this article from the Asian Age, a big ethnic newspaper in the U.K., about the Kazakhstan Campaign there. Having worked on the campaign myself, I was quite interested to see what they had to say.
But what ended up catching my eye (and emotions), was the comment a reader posted. Someone named Mohsin wrote:
Anyway, the more that I thought about it, the more I just started to feel really sad. Why is it that often our first reaction in reading a report of how members of our faith mistreated members of another is to say "Yes, BUT..." or "It must not really be that bad..." or (as Mohsin does here) "Well, they deserve it since they did it to us first (or worst)..." How pathetic! As human beings, can't we do better than that? What happened to our basic humanity, to saying "What can I do to help -- or at least sympathize with -- the innocent victims before I start to analyze the history or think of similar victims in my own tradition."
Anyway, I added my own comment to the Asian Age piece. Yes, it was written with some degree of anger and indignation, but maybe we need to be a little bit more indignant now and then.
But what ended up catching my eye (and emotions), was the comment a reader posted. Someone named Mohsin wrote:
I think this is strikingly similar to the way lots of Muslims are being treated in India by the Hindu goverment and also the police. Many houeses burnt, many women, men, chrildren killed for simply being muslims. Remember the demolition of the babri mosque? the killing of pregnant women and having their stomachs ripped out. (BBC 1 PANAROMA 2006) I dont think what the Kazakh goverment is doing but the term "what goes around comes around" strikes to mind. Make dua for everyone suffering around the world due to opression...Especially since I come from a Hindu background and grew up painfully aware of all of the Hindu/Muslim tensions (or India/Pakistan tensions, which is where a lot of that stuff is coming from), I take this personally. Okay, so (some) Muslims are being mistreated by (some) Hindus in India. The reverse is true as well, of course -- even in India. For the record, most of my more hot-blooded Hindu pals can't stand the government of India and accuse it of being more anti-Hindu than anyone else! There are atrocities on both sides, going back to Partition and even before that. (If anyone wants a particularly poignant history lesson, read up on what Aurangzeb did to Hindus and Sikhs during his bloody reign; meanwhile this radical Islamist website praises him as the "greatest king" to ever rule India).
Anyway, the more that I thought about it, the more I just started to feel really sad. Why is it that often our first reaction in reading a report of how members of our faith mistreated members of another is to say "Yes, BUT..." or "It must not really be that bad..." or (as Mohsin does here) "Well, they deserve it since they did it to us first (or worst)..." How pathetic! As human beings, can't we do better than that? What happened to our basic humanity, to saying "What can I do to help -- or at least sympathize with -- the innocent victims before I start to analyze the history or think of similar victims in my own tradition."
Anyway, I added my own comment to the Asian Age piece. Yes, it was written with some degree of anger and indignation, but maybe we need to be a little bit more indignant now and then.
Mohsin, grow up. The innocent Hindu families being persecuted by the Kazakh government are no more to blame for the demolition of the Babri mosque than the average Muslim family is for the 9/11 attacks. I feel sorry for those who can't muster up enough empathy for the persecuted, and instead just think "Well, *they* did it to *us* first so..." What a sad and childish way of looking at the world! What's next? I could bring up the scores of Hindus being murdered, raped, and burnt alive in Bangladesh, and then someone else can point out how Muslims are the victims somewhere else. "What goes around comes around"? Here's a new expression for you: "An eye for an eye, and the world goes blind..."
5 comments:
I read that article too today. Its very sad. VERY VERY sad that people don't go beyond the whole religion aspect and start viewing problems like human beings. Its stuff like that that makes people become agnostic..believe in God but absolutely NO belief in religion. Really really sad.
Haribol.
Ugh, that guy replied your comment. You're right though, very childish mentality. You have no idea how much I would like to give him a piece of my mind. Like, how about a little empathy? Being the better person? Anything?! Instead of, "you deserve it for..."
And he clearly doesnt get it. I hope you dont waste your time replying him.
Last time I checked, we were not Hindus. Not according to SP or any other Acarya.
I know, it is more convenient to say so, but it is not true.
^ Vaisnavi, I appreciate your concern, but perhaps it is time for you to check again. :-) Actually, Srila Prabhupada, previous acaryas such as Bhaktivinode Thakura, and even the Supreme Lord Himself (Lord Caitanya) have at times identified us as Hindus.
In fact, in the 1970s when the Mumbai temple was threatened with demolition (similar to the threat faced by these Kazakh devotees), Prabhupada did in fact appeal to others in this way and described the temple as a Hindu temple.
It is not simply "more convenient to say so, but... not true" as you allege. Rather, it is appropriate and honest in certain contexts to acknowledge our connection with our broader Vedic, or Hindu, roots.
Spiritually we understand that we are not Hindu (any more than we are men, women, black, white, this body... you get the drift). Historically and legally, however, we understand that ISKCON is not some new-fangled cult -- it represents the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya, which is within the broad family of faiths that most people call "Hindu."
To dogmatically declare that either we are or are not Hindu, without acknowledging the context or audience, is short-sighted.
I joined ISKCON and Gaudiya Vaisnavas.
I also know Muslims that became Vaisnava, but they would have never become a Hindus.
But let SP speak for himself:
"There is a misconception that the Krsna consciousness movement represents the Hindu religion. In fact, however, Krsna consciousness is in no way a faith or religion that seeks to defeat other faiths or religions. Rather, it is an essential cultural movement for the entire human society and does not consider any particular sectarian faith. This cultural movement is especially meant to educate people in how they can love God."
"Sometimes Indians both inside and outside of India think that we are preaching the Hindu religion, but actually we are not. One will not find the word Hindu in the Bhagavad-gita. Indeed, there is no such word as Hindu in the entire Vedic literature. . . . . The Krsna consciousness movement has nothing to do with the Hindu religion or any system of religion." Science Of Self-Rerlization 3: Krsna Consciousness: Hindu Cult or Divine Culture?
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